Thursday, October 14, 2010

Links for 10/14/10

The misuse of prescription drugs was banned not because of concerns over health, safety or illegality, said Michael J. Whaley, Wesleyan's vice president for student affairs, but because the activity violates the spirit of the student honor code…

What constitutes improper assistance? If students are using study aids -- prescription drugs such as Adderall and Ritalin that can increase students’ focus and alertness -- for studying rather than exams or homework, is that a violation of the honor code? Can study aids, which are used the same way that millions of people use coffee or energy drinks, really be called cheating mechanisms?...

Sure, the for-profits are just as bad as they say. They fail to graduate students and the students they graduate are often un-, under- and mis- educated. The students go into debt to pay outrageous tuition for the attention of under-qualified faculty, and then fail to find the employment for which they were putatively prepared. And from all of this under-regulated misery and failure, the shareholders are racking up massive capital accumulation.

The problem is that the for-profits did not invent any of this. All of these tactics–what I’ve called the tuition gold rush–were pioneered by the nonprofit sector…